Prospecting 4 Wealth

There are just about as many ways to generate leads for your site as there
are articles that have been written about them.

Whatever means to generate leads that you are currently utilizing, there are TWO key aspect to keep in mind and follow to help you see the results you desire.

First, make sure that you are marketing to people who have a
genuine interest or need in what you are promoting. Make
sure that your ads, splash page, squeeze page, etc. are
finding as large of a receptive audience as possible. Say your product
is a marketing resource tool and you want to introduce it in a forum.
You could do a search on Google for business opportunity forums since
people who have a business online would be your most likely customers.

Select the forum or forums that you would be interested in participating with
and visit them. See how active they are. A forum that doesn’t get much
traffic on a daily basis may not be a good choice unless it is only part of your
marketing efforts.

Second, be consistent with your marketing efforts. Whatever marketing
strategy you have decided to use, determine a daily or weekly schedule
of marketing activity and track the results. It is a good way to hold yourself
accountable and keep track of how well your efforts are doing and to
make changes when needed.

Links that will help!

Prosperity Central!

Network Blogging!

Writing articles may be outside the box to some marketers, but for those who write articles on a regular
basis, they know that the rewards have FAR outweighed the effort.
Article writing offers many benefits with generating leads right at the top of the list.

Leads are so very important to the success of any business. You can spend days putting together
all the right elements to make your site appealing. You can monetize it and offer a highly
sought after product or service, but without traffic, it will all be for nothing.

If you are just getting started writing articles there are some tips and suggestions to help you
to get the most from your efforts. A blog is a great place to feature your articles and the
search engines view blogs more favorably than a website. Word Press and Blogger are two of
the most popular.

It’s easier and less time consuming to write about subjects you have knowledge
about and or an interest in. Subjects that you do not know much about will require
research which takes time. That is not a bad thing, especially if you are being paid to write an article.
If your goal is to become established as a writer who is an expert in a certain niche,
then the more 300-500 word articles you can produce the better.

Once you have completed your article, it is time to submit it
to article and ezine directories. Remember—
search engines love fresh content. If you take the same article and submit it to several directories,
the search engines will view that article as spam.
An article writing program will solve that problem. It will take your original article
and spin it into several new ones in a fraction of the time it would take
you to do it manually.

Before you submit your article, be sure to fill out the resource box that will be
included at the bottom of your article. The resource box contains a URL to your
site and a brief description about you. Webmasters are always
looking for fresh content to post on their site
and the directories are just a place for them to go. If your
article is selected, readers will naturally look at your resource box and will
hopefully visit your site to see what else you are doing.

The more places your article appears, the more traffic and back links you
will receive to your site, and the higher your ranking in the Search Engines will be.

Links that may help:

Master Writing for Mega Money!

Unique Article Membership!

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Associations and trade organizations are great places to meet individuals. Usually organizations have a common theme, and it is an understood implication that all members participate to improve themselves and their businesses.

Whether it is a chamber of commerce or a trade association, members have common problems, issues and concerns. By sharing issues and resolutions, members can benefit by the experience of others. Many business owners participate in organizations, not only to network, but also to hopefully circumvent some of the pitfalls encountered by other small businesses–learning from others.

Networking Tips.

Many trade organizations provide forums for networking. In some cases, these might be private online newsgroups, casual meetings, or even professional events with speakers. In order to take full advantage of these networking opportunities consider these tips.

Who You Know.

It is often not who you know, but who they know. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen someone put-off someone who is clearly a beginner only to learn that the “beginner” is the brother or friend of a contact they\’ve been trying to meet for weeks.

Honesty.

Be honest. Pretending to be something that you are not, or implying you can deliver a product or service that is outside of your abilities, will foster an environment of distrust and potentially harm your reputation. Keep in mind that networking is viral? and if promises are not kept, word will spread. Establishing yourself and firm as an honest, reputable company.

Professional.

Keep conversations to strictly business subjects. In a business environment, it is important to focus on safe non-emotional topics. The last thing you want to do is alienate or offend a potential client because of an outspoken view on a controversial topic. There is a time and a place for everything and discussing political views or cultural issues is not a generally accepted business topic. Bearing that in mind, it is also important to be aware and sensitive to cultural differences. The Internet has opened doors to a global market and respecting cultural differences is critical to establishing strong business relationships in the global marketplace.

Socialize.

Now is not the time to be a wall flower. Whether you participate in social business events, or monitor trade forums, it is critical that you participate. Participation will help you distinguish yourself in your industry. Attempt to remember individual personal details and foster introductions among others in the industry.

Positive.

Stay positive. It sounds simple, but it will really impact how others view you. If you are constantly negative and pointing out the flaws in others, it will reflect on how others view you. Presenting the best and positive business experiences will enhance your image.

Help.

Provide genuine assistance to others. Whether or not they are able to reciprocate, networking is viral?vital?. Helping others will establish you as a useful member of your business community and will endear you to others. If you are unable to help an individual, attempt to refer them to someone who can.

Research.

A little research goes a long way. Be sure to research people and companies in your business community. Knowing their common goals and interests will build topics for discussions.

Acknowledging the need to connect with others to grow and expand a business may seem like common sense. Cultivating business relationships and interact with other small businesses is often mutually beneficial and should not be underestimated.

Networking is about building relationships and mutual interaction benefiting both parties. Being proactive and following up, you can have a network of contacts that you will be able to access quickly when you need them. Whether by more traditional means, such as in person or over the Internet, personal networks are essential for furthering your business. Relationship networking is give and take, be sure to help others in your quest for help.

Networking, Sales, Marketing

There are a variety of organizations that run networking groups across the country. The largest group is probably BNI, which offers members the chance to attend weekly meetings and develop new professional relationships to help them grow their business. some chambers of commerce are now organizing “leads groups” for their members as well. These groups are intended to offer members a way to connect with each other and potentially refer each other business.

In most “leads groups” each group allows no more then one representative from any industry, so if the group has a mortgage broker other mortgage brokers have to join another group or wait for the seat to open up. The idea is that by restricting membership, you eliminate competition within the group.

The agenda at most structured networking meetings is pretty straightforward. Each member is given an opportunity to introduce themselves, then there is a short presentation by one or two members (each member gets the chance eventually). The meeting ends with members discussing potential referrals for each other. This means that most of the members get about one minute to present who they are and teach the other members of the group how to refer to them.

Most people do a great job of presenting themselves. However, most people do not think to ask for referrals. At most networking events, you are not expected to ask for a referral or explain what a good referral for you is. However, at a leads group it is not only acceptable, it is expected!

I am involved in a number of networking groups and have used the simple outline below to create my elevator pitch (quick introduction). When I deliver my elevator pitch to a leads group, my goal is to educate everyone in the room about my company and what I do, as well as to teach them the best way to refer others to me. In addition, I want to make sure I actually ask for a specific referral. I will go through each piece of the outline in detail, but here are the basics.

* Introduction
o Name
o Position + company name
o Location of the company
o Overview of services
* Tell a story
* Call to action

The introduction piece of your presentation should stay the same every time you give it. You might say something like, “My name is Joe Smith. I am mortgage broker at ABC mortgages in Anytown, USA. We offer a full line of residential and commercial mortgage products.” You can add some additional detail, but you should really focus on keeping this short and on point.

At each meeting, you will have the chance to differentiate yourself from the competition by telling a short story during your presentation. The story can be related to a specific challenge you helped a client overcome, a unique feature of your product or service, or you can simply talk about a new development at your company. Consider writing out your stories in advance so you know what you are going to say at each meeting. In addition, you can schedule the content so that the other members of your group learn more and more about you at each meeting. You need to focus on educating your group a little more each week.

The “call to action” is very important and the piece that most people overlook. You need to tell the other members of your group exactly what type of referral you are looking for. For example, our mortgage broker, Joe Smith, might say, “Today a good referral for me would be a Realtor at XYZ real estate company.” Joe may also say, “Today a good referral for me would be anyone who purchased their home more then 10 years ago.”

I alway recommend that your “call to action” is as specific as possible. If Joe stands up and says that a good referral would be anyone who needs a mortgage, the rest of the group will have a harder time thinking of people to refer. If Joe asks for an introduction to a specific person at a specific company, someone in the group may know that person or know someone at that company who can facilitate Joe’s introduction. The more specific the request, the more likely it is to trigger someone else in the group’s memory.

A last minute hint:

Keep focused on the networks of the people in the group, not on the people themselves. In other words, when you are participating in a networking or leads group, you should not focus on gaining the business of the people at the table. Instead, you should focus on gaining their trust so that they will refer you people in their network.

I love this article…Great info on how to put together an elevator speech which really can be used anywhere at anytime.  We should always be trying to meet new people and introduce ourselves with out sounding salesy!  Easiest way to do that is – Asking if they know somebody who might be interested. A lot of times it turns out the person your asking for a referral is the one interested!!   To Your Successs – Jeff Beeman

networking, business,

Forums, groups, boards, and loops; they’re all synonymous for online locations facilitating online networking. Some are entirely public, where everyone and anyone can click to the URL, read the messages and if they have no interest in contributing, they can just lurk. Some require active participation and others require registration before members can participate. These online forums, groups, boards or loops are different from paid membership sites in that there is no cost to network at these websites.

Some are active, some are sleepy. Some are strictly for online business related topics; some allow more OT (Off Topics) and social interaction. There are forums for every imaginable topic: Entrepreneurs, International online business, Health related fields, Technology, Copywriters, Web Designers, Work at Home Moms, Programmers, Finance, Ebay, Job Seekers, Internet Marketing, Writers, Inventors and Virtual Assistants, just to barely scratch the surface of what’s out there on the World Wide Web.

Time management skills need to be paramount when participating in online forums. You can very easily get swallowed up and spend hours and hours online networking with others who have online businesses, yet you miss real opportunities to get some productive work done!

From a online business standpoint, there are two areas you should consider before participating in a loop. It’s always good to have a network of like-minded online business people. If you’re a web designer, hang out with other designers. You can help and support each other. If you’re just starting out, you can learn from the pros.

Don’t get stuck though, just hanging out with your own kind. You’re not going to be very successful trying to promote your design services to other designers. This is where balance comes in. Pop into the boards, check new posts of interest, ask or answer questions, then get out. Then move onto groups who need your services or products. Who is your target market and where do they hang out? Go there. Word of caution: Do not go to these forums with the sole purpose of SPAMMING the group. You’ll be tossed out on your ear quicker than you can blink if that is your sole purpose. People like to do business with people they know and trust – or at the very minimum have at least heard of.

If you’re trying to sell your curriculum to a group of home school parents and you just pop in, spew your sales rap all over the boards then expect any sort of return, you’re missing the point of online networking. It’s networking – not advertising. You need to build a rapport with your other “loopies”. Then if a need arises and they know one of their own fellow networkers has that special skill or product, guess who they’ll call first? You hope it’s YOU.

For starters check MSN, Google, Yahoo, AOL, and Ryze. Inside there are literally hundreds and thousands of groups just waiting for you. Start networking your way to online business success today!